Well, the All-Star teams have been announced, and Travis Wood is the Cubs’ lone representative, which should not be a surprise to anyone given their 37-48 record this season. I have some comments anyways.

First off, congratulations to Wood, who has been far and away the Cubs MVP this season so far. He’s earned his spot on this squad, and I hope to see him wearing Cubbie blue for a long, long time.

The biggest Cubs snub of the 2013 All-Star Game is (obviously) closer Kevin Gregg. With a 0.989 WHIP, 1.53 ERA and 15

Kevin Gregg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

saves in 16 opportunities, it’s very clear that Gregg is in the midst of the best season of his major league career. Gregg is very arguably more deserving of a spot than Braves closer Craig Kimbrel and Reds closer Aroldis Chapman, though Kimbrel is the Braves lone representative in the game which means that he needed to be in that spot.

Alfonso Soriano is whacking the cover off the ball right now, but is still no sure bet to be traded. The same complications are applicable as always: 1) The no-trade clause he has because of his 5 & 10 rights and 2) that wad of cash that he is still owed, which amounts to approximately $27 million ($18 million next season).

Soriano provides good value, but the Cubs would likely have to pick up at least $24 million of that deal to deal Soriano. They could still get a good return on Soriano, because he is under team control for next season and his destination club would be paying next to nothing for him. And since the team he would go to would obviously be a contender in a playoff hunt, they would likely be willing to give up a couple prospects for a hitter that they imagine could net them a playoff berth.

I still peg it at 50% that Soriano gets dealt before the trade deadline Jul. 31, because Soriano is going to be very selective about where he goes. The front office also realizes that in terms of putting a competent team on the field that can win some games and hit with power includes Soriano, and he’s a good guy to have in the clubhouse for some of the younger guys.

If the Cubs can trade Soriano, I think they would likely get two prospects for him. Neither would be top 100 prospects I don’t believe, but maybe an organizational top 20 prospect would be in order.

Also, according to many sources, the Dodgers are on the brink of acquiring Marlins P Ricky Nolasco as early as tonight. This is great news for the Cubs. The earlier Nolasco goes, the longer the bidding war on Garza can last. And if there are a lot of teams in on Garza, someone will have to up the price, and every year we see teams giving away top of the organization prospects for a chance at a ring right now.

Assuming he stays healthy and continues to pitch well, I expect Garza to net two organizational top prospects, and depending on how the bidding war for his services goes, potentially a couple top 100 types, which would be great.

In other news, the Cubs are still far apart with first-round draft pick Kris Bryant on contract negotiations, but Jed Hoyer says that he is not yet worried that they will fail to sign him before the Jul. 12 signing deadline. Bryant, who hit 31 homers this year at San Diego, can still choose to return to school for his senior year. However, he would likely not receive more money in next year’s draft than he would this year from the Cubs. As it stands, he will almost certainly be the highest paid draft pick in the 2013 MLB first-year players draft.